Former US president Bill Clinton has secured a record-breaking $10 million advance for his memoirs, topping both his wife Hillary’s much-discussed contract and Pope John Paul II’s lucrative agreement. And while the currently untitled memoir isn’t due to hit book stores until 2003, publishers at Alfred A Knopf expect they’ve made a sound investment.
“President Clinton is one of the dominant figures on the global stage. He has lived an extraordinary life, and he has a great story to tell,” says the president and editor in chief of Knopf, Sonny Mehta. “He did say it would be thorough and candid. He did stand for somewhat more than Monica.”
And while the deal marks the largest advance for a nonfiction book in US publishing history, insiders predicted Clinton would pocket even more cash. “In all the years I’ve been doing this I’ve never seen more interest in a book,” said Clinton’s attorney, Robert P Barnett of Williams & Connolly. However, it seems the former president was considering more than just money in choosing a publisher.
Knopf, a division of Random House, is considered one of the most prestigious publishing houses in the world. “Knopf is an interesting choice,” says the president of rival ReganBooks, Judith Regan. “It’s consistent with how Clinton’s trying to change his image.” Famed editor Robert Gottlieb, who has worked with the likes of Nobel prize winner Toni Morrison and Oscar nominee Lauren Bacall, will edit the tome.
Clinton’s deal tops the $8.5 million advance the Pope received in 1994. His Knopf contract also outpaces Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s much-discussed $8 million deal with Simon & Schuster. The paperback rights for the former president’s memoir are included in the deal, however, he retains the movie and dramatization rights to the work.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
